


Sweet Like Candy Kanes

by sasha_annes



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Candy Shop, Christmas, M/M, it's the christmas fic that takes place in a candy shop that no one asked for but i made anyway, please forgive me for the title i couldn't think of anything better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-25 01:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17111957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasha_annes/pseuds/sasha_annes
Summary: Patrick Kane works with his sister at the confectionery their family has owned for three generations. Everything's normal during the Christmas season — until it's not. Enter Canadian tourist Jonathan, the man who buys a pack of the candy shop's signature candy canes every day and captivates Patrick. And when Patrick starts to fall in love with his new customer, can he remain rational, or will his feelings cause things to spiral out of control? (Hint: it's not the former)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas Eve! I decided there was no better time to post my Christmas-themed fic than right before the big holiday. I hope you enjoy this little Christmas gift to the fandom of sorts, haha. 
> 
> DISCLAIMER: The following is a work of fiction. While the names of real people are used, I in no way shape or form claim that said persons would engage in any activities like those mentioned in this fictional writing. The following work is solely for entertainment purposes and is not an accurate portrayal of any persons mentioned. 
> 
> If you are one of the persons mentioned in this writing or personally know one of the persons mentioned, please do not read any further. Otherwise, you have been warned.

Situated between a boutique and a barber was the Kane family’s candy shop. The building was small for a business, and it was made of bricks. It had red window shutters that had clearly seen better days throughout the three generations the confectionery had been passed down through the family. But business was never failing for the little shop, especially not on the Friday two weeks from Christmas.

The shop specialized in making hard candies of all sorts. Hanging baskets lined the store’s light yellow walls. In the first of the two rows of baskets were plastic bags, hand-filled with candies that had little pictures in the center. The lower row was packed with bags of ribbon-like candies that glistened under the small lights that hung from the ceiling. However, those weren’t the candies the Kane family was known for — that title belonged to the candy cane.

Making candy canes was considered an art form by the family, and the practice was carefully taught to each heir to the shop. The methods were known by heart by current generation, which consisted of four siblings: Patrick, Erica, Jessica, and Jacqueline. However, the two eldest sisters had left the small town, leaving only Patrick and Jacqueline to run the shop this December.

“Do you think that’s enough peppermint oil?” Jacqueline asked, looking across the mixing bowl to her brother.

Patrick shrugged. “It’s burning my eyes the usual amount,” he said, blinking rapidly.

“Okay, no more peppermint oil for this batch, then.” The girl walked away from the metal bowl and toward the shelf where the bottles of flavor were stored.

“You better push that cap all the way down, Jackie,” Patrick called out.

“I haven’t messed that up in months, but I’ll double check for you!” Jackie shot an exaggerated smile back at her brother after confirming the bottle’s lid was on tight. She then walked back to the bowl. “You know, how many more batches of canes do you think we’ll have to make before Christmas comes?”

“Minimum three, probably more like five.” Patrick continued to stir the sugar solution in the bowl, his eyes still irritated from the peppermint flavoring’s vapors.

“We made, like, twenty batches last winter, right?”

“Twenty-two, actually.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, and you would’ve know that if you kept count.”

Jackie rolled her eyes. “And you honestly expect m—”

_Ding!_

Jackie sighed. “I’ll go help them.” She walked off toward the front of the store, leaving Patrick alone in the back. The boy sighed and continued to stir the liquid candy.

_Ding!_

He looked up toward the front of the store, head leaning slightly to the side. Was there just a child up front hitting the bell, or….

_Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!_

“Goddamn it,” Patrick muttered. He double checked that the candy would be fine and ran out of the backroom. Just as he had expected from Jackie’s overuse of the bell on the front counter, there was a small crowd of people inside the shop. He ran up to the unoccupied register.

“Good afternoon,” Patrick said, “how may I help you today?”

The group he rang up was a family with three little kids: the oldest couldn’t have been more than five, and the younger two appeared to be twins, judging by their similar faces and their matching coats. As he carefully totaled up the packages of candy the mom placed on the counter, he smiled and waved at the children. All three smiled back.

“Thank you for shopping with us today,” Patrick said, handing the mother the paper bag of her purchases. “Stop by again sometime.”

“Have a good day.” The mother smiled as she slipped the bag on her arm and gestured for her children to follow her out of the store. Patrick then turned his attention to the next customer.

Standing in front of the register was a man taller than Patrick, a bit of an oddity considering the Kanes were some of the tallest residents of the small town.

“Hey,” said the man, “do you guys sell candy canes?”

“Yeah, we should have some in those baskets over there.” Patrick motioned right with his hand.

“I looked. There were none in there.”

Patrick glanced over to the baskets. Just as the man said, all three were empty.

“Sorry about that, man. We’re making another batch now; they should be done in a couple hours.”

“I’ll come back then.” The man turned around and walked out of the shop without looking at the other candies. Patrick slouched a bit and crossed his arms.

“What was that about?” Jackie walked over from her register to Patrick’s.

“Dude wanted candy canes, but we’re out.” He looked around, double-checking that no customers were in the store before he continued. “Asshole didn’t even look at anything else.”

“Was he someone you’ve seen before?”

Patrick shook his head. “He came out of nowhere.”

“That’s odd.” There was a pause. “Wait, you said the canes were out?”

Patrick nodded. “Yeah, let’s go finish that batch in the back.”

#

The completed candy canes sat on the metal cooling table in the backroom. Jackie had went ahead and prepared the plastic bags for the canes to be packaged into. Patrick kept an eye on the candy, waiting to announce when they were cooled.

“Alright,” he said, “they look ready.”

Jackie walked up to the table and slipped on a new pair of disposable gloves. She grabbed four of the canes and carefully placed them into a bag. She folded the top of the bag over and sealed it shut with a sticker that was decorated with a golden cursive “K.”

_Ding!_

“I’ll get them.” Patrick sighed. He walked to the front counter and was greeted with the sight of the same man that came in earlier when they were out of canes.

“Welcome back,” Patrick said. “We’ve got some candy canes being packaged right now.”

“That’s nice.” The man nodded without changing his bland expression.

“How many packs you want?”

“I’ll take one.”

“Just one?” Patrick raised his eyebrows. “You sure about that?”

“Yeah, I’m not a major candy person.”

Patrick was convinced the man he was talking to was crazy; how could someone not like candy? But he walked to the back to grab one of the bags of canes Jackie had packaged up, anyway. He then walked back up to his register.

“Your total’s gonna be twelve thirty-two.”

The man reached into his right coat pocket and pulled some money out. He stared at it, reached into his left pocket, and stared at what he fished out. Then he searched through all four of the pockets on his pants. Patrick yawned.

“You guys don’t happen to accept foreign currency, do you?”

Patrick held back a sigh and said, “What type do you have?”

The man handed Patrick a purple bill and a silver-and-gold coin.

“Ah, Canadian dollars.” Patrick stared at the money for a moment, and then hit the bell on the counter. Within seconds, he heard his sister running up front.

“What’s going on?” Jackie asked, walking up to Patrick.

“Got a customer with foreign currency. Think we can take this?”

Jackie looked down into her brother’s hands. “CAD is what, seventy-seven cents to a US dollar?”

Patrick nodded.

“I think it’d be fine.”

After another moment, Patrick looked at the customer. “We’ll go ahead and take it, but make sure to pick up some USD if you come back for more, okay?”

“Thank you.” It was said in such a monotone way that Patrick believed it to be insincere.

“Oh,” the man continued, as Patrick was about to drop the candy canes into a paper bag, “you don’t need to use one of those.”

Patrick sighed as he put the bag back and handed the pack of canes to the man. “Alright, have a great day.”

The man walked out of the store.

“Tourist, maybe?” Jackie said, turning to her brother.

“If so, he needs to get some better manners.” Patrick crossed his arms and followed his sister as she walked to the back.

“A customer is a customer.” Jackie grabbed a group of canes. “You wouldn’t want to run off a potential regular, would you?”

“I honestly doubt he’s gonna come back.”

“Not if you act like that.”

#

It was about ten o’clock on Saturday that Patrick finished making the day’s batch of ribbon candies, sending the final piece of clay-like sugar through the two-geared machine that indented the candy into the wavy shape of ribbon décor. As he compressed the candy together, making each of the curved edges meet, he heard the chime of the front counter’s bell.

Jackie was fussing with the boxes on one of the back room’s shelves, so Patrick decided to go ahead and handle whatever was waiting up front. As he walked to the counter, he recognized the person standing in front of it as the Canadian man from the previous day.

“Hey, welcome back.” Patrick looked over at the man, who was holding a pack of candy canes in his hands. “Came back for more?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had any this good,” the man said, glancing down at the package he held. “Best I’ve ever had.”

“Of course they’re the best,” Patrick said, smiling. “They’re handmade with top-notch ingredients.”

The man raised his eyebrows. “Handmade?”

Patrick nodded, wondering if the man had even read the store’s sign that read “Handmade candy for over a century!”

“Oh, no wonder, then.” He set the pack down on the counter for Patrick to ring up. “To tell you the truth, I should be having this much sugar.  I’m definitely breaking my diet.”

“But you just can’t help yourself, can you?”

The man chuckled and shook his head as Patrick punched in the order.

“It’s gonna be twelve thirty-two.”

The man reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a green bill. He handed to Patrick.

“Good to see you remembered.” Patrick quickly put the twenty dollar note into the register and gathered the two bills and seven coins that made up the man’s change. “Here you go.” Patrick dropped the money into the man’s hands, which were cupped together to catch the change.

“Thanks, bud,” he said, putting the money in his coat pockets.

“Still no bag?”

The man shook his head and grabbed the pack of canes off the counter.

“Have a good day.”

“You as well.” The man walked out the front door.

Patrick walked to the backroom, where Jackie had already gotten around to preparing the bags for the cooling ribbon candies.

“Hey Pat,” she said as her brother walked toward her. “Who came in?”

“Canadian guy,” Patrick answered.  “And he paid in USD this time, too.”

“That’s good. Did he get the candy canes again this time?”

“Yep. Even said they are the best he’s ever had.”

“See? He’s not that bad.”

Patrick sighed. “Maybe not.” And he believed it.

#

It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes after the store opened that Sunday morning when Patrick swore he heard the front door swing open.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jackie said. “I didn’t hear a single thing.”

“Well, I did.” Patrick crossed his arms and looked away.

“Oh come on, Pat.” Jackie sighed. “It’s too early for this.”

“I’m just saying I think someone’s up there.”

“Then why don’t you just go check?”

Patrick walked away from his sister, toward the front of the store. _Someone better be there,_ he thought, not wanting his sister to win the miniature argument they were having.

Sure enough, someone was up front. It was the same Canadian man from the previous two days.

“Hey, welcome back, man,” Patrick said. “Came in early today, yeah?”

“I have quite an eventful itinerary today, so I didn’t really have another choice.”

Patrick chuckled at how monotonously inconvenienced the man sounded. “So, did you eat all of your canes already?”

“No.” The man paused. “I have one left.”

“That’s about as good as none at all.”

The man let out a short laugh and then walked around the store. Patrick watched as he inspected the packages of ribbon candies.

“Say, everything you sell has sugar in it, right?”

“For the most part, yeah, but we’ve got some sugar-free drops over there.” Pat pointed to the baskets right beside the man. “They’re the pink ones, should have ‘sugar free’ on the bags.”

The man looked into the basket Patrick had pointed to. A small smile was visible on his face as he grabbed out one of the bags. “And these are… nectar flavored?”

Patrick nodded.

“What does that taste like?”

“My sister says it’s like cream soda, I just taste the sweetest thing ever. I’ve even heard some say it’s like honey.”

“So I guess it can’t be described, huh?”

“Nope. You’ll just have to try it yourself.”

The man walked to the other side of the store with the bag of drop candies under his arm. Patrick smiled, happy that he was able to get the man to buy an additional item along with his candy canes.

“Only thing I have to warn you about with the sugar-frees are that if you eat too many, you’ll get a bad stomach ache,” Patrick said as the man placed the two packages of candy on the counter.

“Don’t worry, I’m already going to have to be careful for my diet’s sake.”

“Oh come on, it’s Christmas time. Let go a little.” Patrick smiled and hoped he’d be able to convince his customer to abandon his healthy eating habits. After all, the more sales he could get, the merrier.

“Come on, bud. I’ve already bought more candy from you in the past two days than I have in an entire year.”

Both men laughed for a moment. Afterwards, Pat began to ring the man up.

“So anyway, what’s your name?” Patrick stared directly into the man’s extraordinarily dark brown eyes.

“Jonathan. Sorry that I forgot to tell you ‘til now.”

“No problem. I’m Patrick.” There was a pause. “Total’s gonna be twenty seventeen.”

Per the pattern Patrick picked up on, Jonathan reached into his coat pockets and pulled out the money needed.

“Wait, I think I’ve got some pennies.” Jonathan dug into his right pant pocket. After a moment, his hand emerged grasping some coins. He sorted through the money he held, putting some of it back into his pocket, and handed it to Patrick. “This should be exact.”

Patrick took the twenty dollar bill and the six coins and counted them. The sum was indeed $20.17. He opened the register’s cash-draw, carefully dumped the money in, and closed it back up. “Still good carrying that stuff without a bag?”

“Positive.” Jonathan picked the two packages of candy off the wooden countertop. “Have a good day, Patrick.” He waved and walked toward the exit.

“Come again soon,” Pat called out. As he watched Jonathan leave, he figured that perhaps the man wasn’t so bad, just like his sister had concluded the previous day. He then walked to the backroom.

“I was right.”

Jackie looked up from the clipboard she held. “What?” she said, one of her eyebrows slightly lowered.

“There was a customer. I was right.”

“I guess your hearing’s really good then.”

“Or maybe you just need to get yours checked.” Patrick flashed a quick grin as his sister shook her head.

“So anyway, who was it?”

“Canadian guy again.”

“Ah, guess he’s becoming a new regular, huh?” Jackie lowered her clipboard down her face.

“I think so,” Patrick said. “And his name is Jonathan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to say, "Take a shot every time I say the word 'candy'," but you'd get alcohol poisoning before you could even finish this chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Patrick and Jackie stood on opposite sides of the century-old cooling table. Both wielded food scraped to pick up the half-liquid candy for that Monday’s batch of candy canes. Patrick had already dyed and separated some for the eventual canes’ red stripes.

_Ding!_

Both of the siblings sighed at the bell.

“How close is that red to being cooled enough?” Patrick looked over at his sister.

Jackie lifted the candy up with her scrapers. The hot liquid portion dripped out of the candy and pooled on the table.

“I guess I’ll handle ‘em, just keep moving it around so everything is even.” Patrick put his scrapers down, wiggled off his gloves, and walked to the front of the store.

The customers that had rung the were an elderly couple wearing matching felt Christmas sweaters, the kind Patrick found lovably tacky.

“Good morning, Don and Carrie. Did you guys just walk straight out of your high school Christmas dance?” Patrick said as he walked to his register, causing the couple to burst into laughter.

“We just need two packs of candy canes today,” the husband said as he handed Patrick the packages in his hands. As Pat rung up the order, he heard someone else walk in, but he didn’t bother to look up. He didn’t notice who had walked in until the couple was heading to the door and waving goodbye.

“Oh, welcome back,” Patrick said, recognizing Jonathan. “Didn’t make it up at the crack of dawn today?”

Jonathan chuckled. “Actually, I did. I spent it walking around town.”

“Nice,” Patrick said, understanding the slight glisten on Jonathan’s face.

“I bet you do it all the time, living here and all.”

“Yeah, but usually not when it’s this cold out. Maybe in fall, but I’ve got to run this place.”

“You work every day?”

Patrick nodded. “One of two employees.”

“Are you the owner?”

“No. Maybe one day, but not right now. This shop belongs to my father, actually.”

“Oh, family business, then?”

“Yeah. Started with my great grandfather. Think that was… two hundred and eleven years ago.” Patrick smiled; he took pride in helping maintain the shop’s long-standing legacy.

“That’s incredible,” Jonathan replied, mirroring Pat’s smile. He then walked to the right wall and pulled out a pack of candy canes. “These really must be a hit, eh?”

“Yeah. We’re gonna get another batch out there as soon as we can.” There was a pause. “Anyway, how did you like the drops?”

“They were certainly different. You were right about nectar being indescribable.”

“But were they good?” Patrick leaned over the counter a little.

Jonathan was silent. He looked around and pressed his lips together. His gaze seemingly bounced off everything but Patrick, until the two finally made eye contact again. Jonathan smiled. “Yes.”

“How many did you eat?”

“I planned to have no more than a fourth of the bag, but that kind of turned into a third….”

“Ah, so you really like them.” Patrick grinned. “So, just the canes today?”

Jonathan nodded and handed Patrick the pack of candy canes. He then reached into his pockets and pulled out some cash.

“Twelve thirty-two, right?”

“Yep,” Patrick replied. He took the money as Jonathan handed it over. He placed the bills and coins into the register and pushed the cash drawer shut with his palm. “Thanks for coming in again, Jonathan.” Pat handed over the pack of candy.

“You’re welcome.” Jonathan smiled. It was like the rest of his smiles, save for the fact that Patrick became incredibly aware of how it softly spread across Jonathan’s face. It caused Pat to smile in return.

“Have a great day,” Patrick said as Jonathan walked out of the store. “Come back soon.” Pat then turned around and walked to the backroom.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Patrick ran up to his sister, who was walking away from the candy table and holding the large mass of amber candy in her hands.

“Uh, it’s been sitting around forever, don’t you think it needs to get pulled already?”

“I was only gone for two minutes.”

“No, you were gone for at least ten.” Jackie shifted to face her brother entirely.

Patrick raised his eyebrows. “Seriously?”

Jackie nodded. “Did you get really busy or something?”

“No.” Patrick paused to think. “I guess I just got distracted. Anyway, just go put that back down on the table and I’ll handle it in a second.”

Jackie sighed, stepped toward the table, and plopped the clay-like candy back down. Patrick went to the side of the table and put his gloves back on. He picked up the amber candy and walked over to the large metal hook on the wall.

Letting the hook grab and anchor the candy, Patrick began pulling down on the thick, stiff substance. He felt a burn in his arms as he looped the candy over the hook and pulled it once more. The strenuous nature of candy-pulling was Pat’s justification for not exercising in the winter… and not wanting his sister to pull the candy, too. As Pat continued to pull the candy, it became an opaque white. Once it fully reached that color, Patrick took the candy back to the cooling table, sighing as set it down.

“Ready to finish this damn thing?” Patrick looked up at his sister.

Jackie nodded. “Totally.”

#

The Kane’s residence was only a ten minute walk from the shop. It was a two-story, rectangular house with a robin egg blue roof.  It had been a crowded place when all four of the Kane children lived there, but only Patrick, Jackie, and their parents lived there now. There was a pine wreath on the door, which had made Pat smile when he had arrived home.

That evening, Mrs. Kane had prepared dinner alongside her husband, and the aroma of oven-roasted chicken greeted the children as they walked through the door.

“I thought you didn’t make full chickens until Christmas?” Patrick asked as he walked to the kitchen table, where his mother was cutting up their meal.

“Well, I didn’t want to be rusty when the big day rolls around.” Mrs. Kane looked over at her son. “Are you trying to complain about it?”

Patrick chuckled. “No ma’am.” He walked to the sink, washed his hands, and sat down at his seat. Jackie, who came into the kitchen with her father behind her, took the seat next to her brother.

“Oh, do I need to get drinks?” Jackie sat straight in her seat, nearly getting back up.

“I’ve got them,” Mr. Kane said as he set two cups of iced tea in front of his kids.

“Thanks, Dad.” Patrick took a sip from his glass. The parents sat down, and the family started filling their plates with the food that had been prepared: chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn. They ate, saying bits of chatter between bites and gulps.

“Shop’s been good, right?” Mr. Kane looked across at his children.

“Everything’s the way you left it,” Patrick replied.

“That’s good.” The father smiled. “Don’t get too comfortable, the doctor said I can go back next month.”

“Sweetheart,” Mrs. Kane said, “you know we have to go for another check-up to make sure that’s still the case.”

Mr. Kane shook his head. “Those damn doctors, trying to hold me back.”

Patrick laughed at the comment, but it wasn’t very joyful. He knew how much his father had missed working at the shop. But it had only been a month since his surgery to treat a hernia that had been plaguing him since last February, and the doctor’s orders were strictly against heavy lifting and other intense physical work.

“Well if those doctors won’t let me run the shop, how about we just retire?” Mr. Kane turned to his wife. “We could be like the rest of the old folks and move to Florida.” Everyone at the table laughed.

“No, honey, we’re staying up here in New York,” Mrs. Kane said, her northern accent shining through on the last two words.

Dinner continued for about half an hour longer. Jackie was the first one to rise and retreat to the upper quarters for the night. Patrick helped his mother with the dishes and then followed suit. He climbed up the narrow staircase, turned to the left, and walked into his bedroom.

Patrick’s room was simplistic; he didn’t spend much of his time there, so he found no reason to decorate in the extensive manners his sisters were prone to. He had put up a faux pine garland and some red and green candles for the holiday season, but he planned to take those down by December 26th. The bulk of decoration in the room came from the collection of framed photos on top of his chest of drawers.

Pat’s photos were largely from family events, such as the frame in the left corner that held a picture from Erica’s college graduation. Prints of the few professional photo shoots the family had gotten done were also displayed, the oldest dating back to when Patrick was only five. But his favorite was the one that was placed in the center and housed in a golden frame. It was a photo of thirteen year-old Patrick making his very first batch of candy canes.

Patrick’s memory of that day was crystal clear. It had started off like any other weekend day during that time; Patrick had gone down to the shop with his father in the morning to help out. He was watching his father pour a metal pot full of liquid candy on the pouring table when it all began.

“Pat,” Mr. Kane said, “get your gloves on and grab that food dye, would you?”

Patrick knew exactly what his father was referring to. He slipped on his special pair of heat-resistant gloves, grabbed the bottle of food coloring, and walked over to his father at the table.

“Now pour it in.”

Patrick had been allowed to pour the dye in the past, so he was confident as he completed the task. He stood and watched as the water from the coloring boiled out of the candy.

“Alright, now cut that section out.” Mr. Kane held a large pair of metal scissors out. Patrick, wide-eyed, looked up at his father.

"Are you sure?" This was the first time Pat had ever been asked to complete that task. After seeing his father nod, he took the scissors and carefully cut the red candy away, watching his every motion to make sure he didn’t mess up.

Just a few minutes later, Patrick and his father stood at the candy hook. Patrick, for the first time, pulled the amber candy up and over the hook, and then down. With every pull, Patrick became more and more worn out. His father didn’t let him quit, but after noticing his son gasping for air, he began helping him with the process.

Once the candy had been pulled enough to become white, Patrick dropped it on the secondary cooling table. His father placed the red candy down, as well.

“Now, why do we put a white rod of candy inside the cane?” asked Mr. Kane.

“Because it makes the red look glass-like.”

“Alright, so go ahead and do that for me.”

Patrick cut up the candy and formed different piles of the white and red, hoping his nervousness wouldn’t show. He rolled a white lump and then created a sheet that was white with four red stripes, one of which that was thicker than the rest. He rolled the sheet around the rod and, after glancing at his father, started to roll it down so it would taper into the thickness needed for the candy canes.

“Keep going,” said the boy’s father. “I’ll cut and shape them for you.”

Patrick continued to roll down the candy, cutting pieces off and passing them to his father until there was no candy left. He walked where all the candy canes were set to dry and stared at them for a moment.

“Did I do well?” Patrick turned to his father.

“What did you do?”

“I did everything you taught me,” had been Patrick’s answer.

His father had smiled. “Then you did well.”

Patrick looked at the photo for a few more seconds before turning away. It was getting late, and he needed sleep. After changing into a set of pajamas and going downstairs to tell his parents he loved them, Patrick retired to his bed for the night, resting his head down and letting the day fade away.

#

Patrick and Jackie walked together to the shop that frigid Tuesday morning. It had begun to snow the previous night, as they had learned when they stepped outside. The snow went up to about their ankles, which was relatively little for how much snow their part of the state usually gets. Patrick picked up his pace, wanting to get out of the chilly air and into the heated confectionary.

“Are we having another race?” Jackie looked to her brother as she ran to keep up with him.

“Oh, we’re racing?” Patrick turned his head toward his sister. “Meet you there.” He took off sprinting down the sidewalk, laughing as he heard his sister’s discontented yells behind him. The quaint small town buildings became a blur as Pat ran faster and faster. He didn’t stop until he came to a sliding halt at the candy shop’s door. He placed his hand on the brick wall and turned around.

“Good try, Jackie.”

“You’re a jerk.” Jackie ran up to her brother and pushed at his arm. Patrick laughed. He then grabbed his keys out from his right jean pocket and unlocked the shop’s door. The siblings entered the building and walked to the back, where they removed their coats. As Jackie hung up her scarf, Patrick took his beanie off, running a hand through his blond curls. When the two were done taking off their winter gear, the floor was covered in snowflakes that neither bothered to clean up. They tied on their pinstripe aprons and began opening the shop.

“And it’s eight,” Patrick said as the backroom’s clock struck the new hour. He walked to the front of the store and flipped the open sign around, only to spot someone running toward the door. As soon as he recognized the person, Pat pulled open the door.

“Welcome back, man,” Patrick said as Jonathan grabbed the door and stepped inside. “In early again, yeah?”

“I was originally going to take a walk this morning, but it’s not really walking weather anymore.”

Patrick closed the door and walked up next to Jonathan. “I thought you were from Canada. Can’t you guys handle the cold?”

Jonathan chuckled. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we like it. Especially when it comes by surprise. The forecast said it wasn’t supposed to start snowing until tomorrow, at least.”

“And that’s why you never trust the weathermen. I can’t remember a single day where they actually got something right.” Patrick walked around the storefront and counted the amounts of candy in the baskets. Jonathan joined him by the baskets of candy canes and pulled out a pack.

“Wait, let me get you a better one.” Patrick reached into the wicker container and pulled a package from the bottom. “We put the freshest at the bottom, so these are gonna be the best.”

“Oh, thanks.” Jonathan put back the packet he had grabbed and took the one from Patrick. He smiled and walked to the other side of the store. Pat, meanwhile, went back behind the front counter.

“So,” Jonathan said, glancing at the other candies as he walked toward the counter, “do you guys make every type of hard candy ever?”

“We make a lot of it. Chances are if it exists, we’ve made it at least once.”

“And it’s all handmade?”

Patrick nodded. “Every last bit of it.” He started to ring Jonathan’s order into the register. “You getting anything else today?” Pat looked up at Jonathan.

“Well, actually….” He walked back over to shelves on the left wall. “What flavor are the ribbon candies?”

“There’s a sticker on each pack that should say. Most of them are peppermint, though.”

Jonathan went through the basket, shifting through the packs. “You have strawberry ones?”

“Wait, we still have those?” Patrick laughed. He remembered making the smallest batch of those back in mid-November, despite Jackie’s protests. Jonathan walked up to the counter and handed Pat the candies. “It’s been forever since we made these.”

“I guess I’ll do my part in cleaning out old stock, then.”

“So much for making sure you bought fresh candy today,” Patrick said as he punched in the price for the ribbon candies.  “Alright, total’s gonna be twenty-two forty.”

Jonathan pulled his cash out from his coat and sorted through it to get the correct amount. Patrick watched, noticing the shadow the lights cast underneath Jonathan’s jawline when he glanced to the side.

“Okay, this should be enough.” Jonathan handed over his money. Patrick counted it out and pulled the appropriate amount of change from the register.

“Here you go.” Pat placed the change in Jonathan’s hands. The man sorted through the coins and put them in his pockets. He then took the two packs of candy from Patrick.

“Make sure to let me know how you like those ribbon candies the next time you're in, yeah?”

“Got it.”

“Thanks for coming in, Jonathan.”

“You’re welcome. And, if you’d like, you can call me Jonny.”

“Jonny?”

Jonathan nodded.

“Well, thanks for coming in, then, Jonny. See you next time.”

“See you then, too, Patrick.”

Pat smiled as he watched Jonathan, or Jonny, walk out of the building. He then walked to the backroom.

“Hey Jackie, we’re running low on image candies.”

“Fantastic!” Jackie said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. Then in a normal tone she continued, “So, what should our next design be?”

“Santa?” Patrick suggested. “I mean, all the kids love Santa."

“Didn’t we do a Santa last year?”

“Yeah, and wasn’t it a hit?”

Jackie glanced around, moved her head, and shrugged. “You’ve got a point. I’ll go look through our collection of designs and see if I can find that one.” She walked over to the shelf above where they kept the food dyes and grabbed an off-white binder. Inside the binder were pencil drawings of the designs the shop had produced into candy. She flipped through the pages, scanning them for the Santa drawing.

“Okay, I found it.” Jackie walked back to her brother. Pat looked down at the pages she held toward him. The Santa design was there, featuring the head of Mr. Claus wearing his signature red hat with a white pom-pom at the end.

“Perfect. Let’s do them in cinnamon.”

“Sounds good.” Jackie closed the binder. “Do you want me to go ahead and start up the batch of candy?”

“I’ll do it,” Patrick said, walking to the portion of the backroom where the stove was kept. Jackie nodded and placed the binder back on its shelf.

The process for making the image candies was similar to the ones for the rest of the hard candies the Kanes made. The liquid candy was prepared in a metal pot and the fiery cinnamon flavoring was mixed it. Patrick took the pot of candy, which was heated to over three-hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and dumped it out on the cooling table. A swath of steam rose upward and into Pat’s face as the candy pooled on the table.

From there, the siblings teamed up to add the food coloring to different sections of the candy. Jackie added the red while Patrick added an orange-brown color that would later be peach. After the water from the dye boiled out, they cut apart the dyed pieces of candy to separate them from the main section. They used food scrapers to lift and maneuver the candy so it would cool evenly. Patrick lifted and folded the candy continuously, only stopping for a few seconds when a thought caught him off guard — a thought that went something like, _I wonder if Jonny will like these_. Confused on why the thought even occurred, Patrick shook his head and continued working.

Patrick pulled the candy, while Jackie kept the temperature of the portions still on the cooling table steady. He might have come a long way since using the hook for the first time as a child, but Patrick still felt the strain of the procedure in his muscles. But it was worth it when all of the candy had been turned opaque and the siblings could begin forming the actual image.

Using the design Jackie had found earlier as a reference, the two rolled and shaped the malleable sugar to create a circular image of Santa Claus’ face.

“Does that look like it?” Patrick looked at his sister.

“I’d say so,” Jackie replied.

Patrick then started to roll the large log of candy down into smaller canes, which he cut off and passed over to Jackie. She evened the canes up and rolled them to the empty part of the secondary cooling table to dry. They went through those two steps rinse-and-repeat until all of the candy was made into long, straight canes.

Finally, it was time to complete the final step: cutting up the canes. Patrick started by rolling twenty-five of the canes to Jackie and twenty-five to himself.

“Oh, we’re doing this again?” Jackie glared at her brother.

“Uh-huh, and I’m gonna beat you like always.” Patrick grabbed out some plastic gloves from beneath the table and handed a pair to Jackie.

“Okay, we’ll see.”

The two pulled the metal blocks on the table toward themselves and held their sharp scrapers in their hands. On the count of three, they began cutting the canes into small pieces. For a few seconds, the chopping seemed slow, but in an instant, both of the siblings were cutting the candy in rapid, near-rhythmic motions. The banging of metal-on-candy and metal-on-metal was the only sound that could be heard. Patrick was exceptionally quick and finished his set of canes as Jackie started on her last two.

“I’m done,” Patrick said.

“I realize that.” Jackie finished cutting the final rod of candy and turned to face her brother and his proud smirk.

“Maybe next time, lil’ sis'.” Patrick tipped his head to the side. “Maybe next time.”

The table was covered in a massive pile of small candies, each one with a diameter no more than a half-inch. Miniature faces of Santa Claus adorned each one. The siblings started going through the sea of candies and picked out the ones that were broken or otherwise disfigured. These candies were supposed to be thrown away, but neither Patrick nor Jackie followed that rule. Instead, they opted to eat the un-sellable candies as they went through the quality-control check. Patrick only counted twelve unusable candies, which was small amount for the vast amount present. Each one tasted predictably delicious.

After the candies had been searched through, Jackie grabbed a food scale and a box of plastic bags. She dumped candy into each bag until it weighed two and a half ounces. The packages were then sealed shut with wire ties. Patrick went ahead and grabbed a stack of label sheets and started filling out the labels. He placed the completed labels on the bags of candy. Once all the candy was packaged and labeled, all that was left to do was put it in the baskets up front.

“We did great, don’t you think?” Jackie said, looking over the bags of candy.

Patrick nodded and high-fived his sister.

#

It was fifteen after eight on a Wednesday morning. Patrick stood at the front counter and waited for what he knew was bound to happen soon. A smile started to form on his face as he noticed someone walking by the windows and then to the door. Jonathan, wearing a jacket covered in snowflakes, entered the shop.

“Welcome back, Jonny,” Patrick said,.

“Thanks,” Jonny replied, taking off his mittens and putting them in his coat pockets. “How have things been?”

“Been good.”

“Sounds great.” Jonathan paused. “Oh, yeah, the ribbon candies were great, by the way.”

“I’m glad you liked them.” Patrick smiled some more. “We got some new image candies done yesterday, if you wanna check those out, too.” Patrick pointed toward the basket where the Santa candies were held.

“I think I would like to do that.” Jonathan walked to the basket and looked at the candies inside. “Cinnamon, eh?” He grabbed a couple of the bags and brought them to the counter. “I think I’m going to need these.”

“Whoa, two bags? For you?” Patrick raised his eyebrows.

“One for me, one for my brother. He’s a big fan of cinnamon.”

“He’d get along great with my sister Jackie, then,” Patrick said. “She loves it too.”

“Oh, is that who I’ve seen in here along with you?”

Patrick nodded. “That’d be her. She’s the only one that still works here.” There was a pause before Patrick clarified his statement with, “I have three sisters.”

“Oh, wow. That must have been rough growing up, eh?”

“Don’t make me start on how many times I was forced to play dress-up.” Patrick looked at the bags on the counter, and then resumed eye contact with Jonathan. “Anyway, are you getting anything else?”

Jonathan went a grabbed a pack of candy canes and added it to the small collection of candy on the counter. “Now that should be all.”

Patrick rung up the order. “Twenty-six forty-two today.”

Jonathan handed a twenty and a ten out of his pant pockets and handed them over. Pat put the money in the register and counted the correct amount of change, glancing up at his customer a few times as he did so. He then handed over the three bills and eight coins that made up the change.

“I hope you enjoy those candies,” Patrick said. “And I hope your brother does, too.”

“Well thank you, Patrick.”

“You’re welcome. And hey, if you want to, you can call me Pat.”

“Are you sure?”

Patrick gave a thumbs-up. “Don’t mind.”

“Alright, I guess I’ll see you again soon, then, Pat.” Jonathan took out his mittens and put them back on before grabbing his candy off the counter.

“Take care, Jonny.”

“You as well.”

Patrick watched as Jonathan walked out of the store and carefully shut the door behind him. And without really knowing why, Patrick was becoming very fond of Jonny’s visits.

#

Thursday morning was quite similar to the one of the previous day. After opening up shop and checking the inventory up front, Patrick waited behind the counter until Jonny came in. It was twenty after eight when the man finally made his way into the candy shop.

“Good morning,” Pat said, smiling as Jonny caught his eye. “How you been?”

“I’ve been… decent, I suppose.” He walked up to the counter. “I think I’m going to do some sight-seeing on the outskirts of town.

“Be careful if you drive out. The roads are definitely iced be now."

“Thanks for the reminder.” Jonny went over to the candy cane basket and grabbed his daily pack. He walked to the counter and handed them to Patrick.

“So, Pat, how have things been in here?”

“They’ve been going fine.” Patrick gave a quick smile. “We’re going to do another batch of candy canes this afternoon. Half of our stock got killed during yesterday’s rush hour. Jackie also said she wants to do more image candies, so we’ll probably have some more of those soon.”

“Sounds like you’ll be keeping busy then.” Jonny offered up some cash to pay for his order.

“Pretty much.” Patrick took the money and put in the register. “You have fun going out of town today, yeah?” He handed Jonny his purchase.

“Will do. Have a good day making all that candy.”

“I’ll try.” Patrick chuckled. “See you next time, Jonny.”

Jonathan slowly walked over to the door to leave. As he fumbled with opening the door, Patrick noticed how poorly the man’s winter pants fit him; they were loose from around the knees downward, but were awkwardly tight elsewhere. The observation quickly left Patrick’s mind as he moved on to reflecting over Jonny’s visit.

If Pat was forced to tell the truth, he’d have to admit he wished Jonathan had stayed just a bit longer. There was no rhyme or reason Pat could think of on why he desired that. But nevertheless, the thoughts stuck with Patrick for the rest of the day.

#

Patrick stared at the ceiling. It had been fifteen minutes since he had woken up. He had already slept in longer than he was supposed to, so he was pushing his ability to get ready to leave before his sister. But he lay on his bed, thinking of the peculiar dream he had imagined that Friday morning.

He wasn’t exactly sure where it had begun; Pat’s dreams had a tendency to fade together with loose continuity throughout. But he’d say it had started with himself standing in the shop, by the front door. And then Jonathan, or rather his mind’s perception of the man, walked in. He greeted Patrick and brought a whole basket candy canes to the counter. Patrick couldn’t tell how many packages the register rung up, but he believed he counted nineteen. After Patrick rang him up, Jonny left.

It wasn’t a special dream by any means: it was typical of what Pat’s dreams usually consisted of. But he thought about it again and again, recalling something his sister Jessica told him during their family’s last Fourth of July barbecue.

“Y’know, I read something really interesting about dreams in a magazine the other day,” Jessica had said, leaning into the side of the plastic picnic chair she was curled up in.

“What was it?” Jackie leaned forward in her seat, while both Patrick and Erica looked toward Jessica.

“It said that you dream of the things that you think about a lot. So like, if you’re thinking really hard about something, you’ll probably dream about it, and vice versa.”

“Ah,” Erica had said, “so that’s why I’ve been dreaming about smacking my dumb brother upside the head?”

After Patrick finished laughing over his memory Erica’s comment, he returned to thinking about what Jessica had told him. If what she said was true, and Pat believed it to be, it made sense that he would have dreams about working at the shop. After all, it was practically his entire life at times. But this particular dream was bothersome, because it was about Jonny, and Patrick wasn’t happy with how the tall, dark-haired man was so rapidly taking over Pat’s thoughts. It didn’t help that he couldn’t pinpoint a reason, either. Sure, he enjoyed Jonny’s company, but he could say the same for many other customers, none of which stuck in his mind like this.

Patrick rolled over and looked at the analog clock on his nightstand. It was 7:25 AM.

“Shit.”

Pat jumped off his bed and ran to the chest of drawers to pull out thermal underwear, socks, and jeans. He quickly threw off his striped pajama pants and dressed his lower half before running to his closet and grabbing a tee shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, and a knit sweater. He had the garments on in a moments notice. Then he ran out of his room to the bathroom. On his way out, he glanced at himself in the vanity mirror. He ran his hands through the messy spirals of hair on his head in hopes to make them appear a little less disheveled. He then raced downstairs.

“I was about to go up there and make sure you weren’t dead.” Jackie stood by the door, already dressed up for the freezing outdoors.

“Oh c’mon, did it really take me that long.?” Pat tied his boots on snug and started slipping on his heavy peacoat.

“Let’s see… I think you were about twenty later than usual?”

“Liar,” Patrick said, knowing very well his sister’s estimation was correct. He slipped on his navy beanie and reached for the front door’s knob. “You ready to go?”

“Ready as ever.”

The siblings left the house and began to make their way to the shop. They were walking at a quicker pace than usual due to the time and whatever kind of energetic mood Jackie was in. Patrick, on the other hand, found himself whisked into contemplation as his gaze fell along holy wreaths in windows and colorful lights on porches. But his thoughts hadn’t shifted to the old-fashioned decorations that adorned the small town houses — they were still where they had been all morning.

 _Out of all of our customers, why him?_  Patrick thought. _What’s so goddamn special about him, anyway? He comes in daily?_ Patrick thought he had a point; while the shop had plenty of regular customers, Jonathan was the only one that came in every day. But that didn’t seem like a grand enough reason for Pat to have developed such a strange fascination with him in just the course of a few days. He started to wonder if this was normal.

“Hey Jackie, can you —” Patrick turned his head to the left, but his sister wasn’t walking beside him. He spun around. Jackie was no where to be seen along the snow-covered sidewalk. Pat decided to just keep walking toward the shop in hopes that his sister would be there.

When he was finally able to see the shop, Jackie was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk across from the door.

“You ran off without me,” Patrick called as he ran to his sister.

Jackie looked up from the large cardboard box that she held up with one arm. “Uh, did you not hear me when I told you we were racing?”

“You….” Patrick realized how distracted he had been. “Sorry, didn’t hear. Must have been the hat on my ears.” He pulled up at the edges of his beanie a little. “Anyway, what’s that?” He pointed to the box.

“This was leaned up against our mailbox when I walked up here.”

“Who’s it from?” Patrick walked closer.

“Let’s see….” Jackie held the box so she could read the label. “EK Crafts and Collections, one hundred eighty-eight Chelsea Street, Chicago, Illinois, sixty thousand six hundred twenty-four, United States of America.”

“We got a package from Erica?” Patrick smiled as his eyes widened, full of joy.

Jackie nodded.

“What are you waiting for? Open it up!”

Jackie ripped off the packing tape on the top of the box and unfolded the flap. She reached inside the box and pulled out a wreath.

“Wow,” Pat said, staring at the shiny, mesh wreath. It was cherry red and apple green, and it had golden bows placed in between the creases of puffy mesh. In the center was a sign that red “Happy Holidays!” in a cursive font, with a bell tied underneath.

“She made this for us?” Patrick took the wreath from Jackie, who knelt down to reach into the box. She pulled a slip of paper out.

“Looks like a letter.” Jackie unfolded the paper and cleared her throat.

> “Dear Patrick and Jackie,
> 
> Merry Christmas to you two! I wish I could be with you, but I’ve got a business to run. I hope things around the shop are going well. Hopefully some of those little kids have grown up some, ha-ha! I wanted to send you two some holiday cheer to hang on the shop’s door. Know that I miss you two and I’ll be calling home before Christmas comes.
> 
> With all the love in the world,
> 
> Erica.”

“We have a wreath hanger in the back, right?” Patrick asked.

“We should.” Jackie picked up the box. “But it’s nearly eight — we need to get inside.”

Patrick handed the wreath back to Jackie and unlocked the door. They stepped inside the shop. Pat rushed to the back and took off his coat and hat.

“I’ll count front inventory and change the sign,” said Jackie, “since I’m already heading that way.” Before Patrick could reply, his sister walked away, carrying Erica’s wreath with her.

Pat went to check on the small amount of machinery that the shop owned. After powering up the cooling tables’ temperature-control, he headed to the back of the building to look at the thermostat. And then he glanced down.

Scurrying across the tiled floor was a cockroach about the length of Patrick’s index finger. Pat immediately ran toward it. The roach, to the man’s dismay, ran up the wall. Patrick halted and looked around for something he could use as a makeshift flyswatter, not wanting to go to the very-back of the store and grab the actual flyswatter and risk the roach running away. He stared at the roach that was about the level of his chin.

 _I wonder if I…._ Without even finishing his thought process, Patrick lifted his leg up in the air and smacked the sole of his shoe into the bug. When he removed his foot from the wall, the roach fell down. Pat grabbed a paper towel from the nearby hand-sink, picked the pest off the floor, and promptly dropped it in the trashcan. He then went back to the hand-sink to wash his hands, shaking his head at the ordeal that had occurred.

As Patrick finished washing his hands, he heard some talking coming from up front. And while Jackie was known to talk to herself time to time, Pat was fairly certain he wasn’t hearing just her voice. He hastily dried his hands and dashed up front.

Jackie was standing behind her register and chatting with Jonathan, who must have walked in while Patrick was preoccupied. Pat walked up to where his sister was and turned to her.

“What are you doing?” he asked in a pitch lower than his usual.

“I’m helping out the customer that came in.”

“You can go, I’ve got this.”

Jackie gave her brother a puzzled stare as he motioned for her to step aside.

“You don’t have to worry; she’s been doing a good job.”

Patrick turned to Jonathan, who had just spoken. He then looked back at his sister, who had her arms crossed and wore a smirk that screamed, “Told you so.” But she stepped aside, allowing her brother access to the register. Pat moved forward and met Jonathan’s gaze with his own.

“So, how have you been, Jonny?” Patrick asked. “Did you enjoy heading out of town yesterday?”

“I’ve been well, and yeah, I had a lot of fun.”

“Glad to hear that.” Pat smiled.

“I saw this one pine tree that was covered icicles that were catching the light beautifully,” Jonny said. “I tried taking a photo with the camera I had on hand, but turns out the thing doesn’t turn on anymore.”

“There’s a camera repair shop not far from here; they might be able to tell you what’s wrong with it.”

“Wait, really?”

Patrick nodded. “If you take a right out of our door and head to the intersection, it’ll be the third building down on the street across to the left.”

“Oh, I’ll have to head there, then. Thanks for letting me know.”

“No problem,” Patrick said. He looked down at the counter where a pack of candy canes had been placed. “This all for today?”

Jonathan nodded. Patrick finished ringing the order up and put Jonny’s $12.36 away.

“Have a good day, yeah?” Patrick said as he from behind the counter to the main storefront.

“Will do,” Jonny replied. “Are you heading out, too?”

“Just wanted to check out how the wreath looks on the door.”

“Ah, your sister was finishing hanging it when I walked in. Jackie, right?”

Patrick nodded as he opened the door and stepped outside, Jonathan right behind him. As the door closed, Pat looked at the wreath hung straight on the door. _She did a good job,_ he thought.

“Well, I guess I’ll get heading along now.” Jonathan adjusted the mittens he had just put on. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Pat.”

Patrick smiled as he heard his nickname in Jonathan’s voice. “See you then, Jonny.” Once Jonathan was out of his sights, Pat went back inside, getting himself out of the chilly air.

“Wreath looks good,” Patrick said as he walked into the backroom.

“Thanks,” Jackie replied. She was hanging up the clipboard they used to record inventory.

“So, do we need to make anything today?”

Jackie nodded. “We’re low on canes again.”

“Of course we are.” Pat sighed. “Want to start them before the lunch-hour rush?”

Jackie nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.”

“Then let’s get started.”

#

“How’s dinner?” Mrs. Kane asked as she looked back at her kids from where she stood by the sink.

“Delicious,” said Patrick after he had finished chewing some of his mother’s oven-baked macaroni-and-cheese.”

“The store-bought wishes it could be this good,” added Jackie before shoving two spoonfuls in her mouth.

“Glad to hear it’s still good.” Mrs. Kane smiled. “So, how were things at the shop today?”

“They were good,” Patrick said.

Jackie made some noises and waved her hand as she finished chewing. “You should have seen Pat this morning; he was getting jealous!”

Patrick glared at his sister. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t remember making me step aside so you could help that one customer.”

“Oh my,” Mrs. Kane said, turning around. “Patrick did what?”

“You’re over-exaggerating,” said Pat.

“So, how have you been, Jonny?” Jackie mocked her brother’s deep voice.

“For the love of —” Patrick shook his head.

“You know how teenage boys do that thing where they have to act all macho to any other guys that try to talk to their girlfriends?” Jackie asked. “Well, that’s exactly how he was acting, except instead of a girlfriend, it’s this dude that’s older than him.”

“You don’t know that he’s older than me,” Patrick replied.

“He sure looks older than you.”

“Patrick,” Mrs. Kane said, “who’s this customer your sister is referring to?”

“His name’s Jonathan. He comes in everyday and buys a pack of candy canes."

“And apparently he’s too special for me to wait on.”

“Jackie.” Patrick turned to his sister. “So far, I’ve been the only one who’s waited on him. I had no clue how he’d react to me not being the one handling his order. I didn’t want to risk making him unhappy.” Patrick’s statement was a lie. His actions had been motivated by jealousy, but he wasn’t admitting that to anyone — not even himself.

“Anyway, why don’t you tell Mom about the package?”

“Oh, right.” Jackie turned to her mother and started telling her about Erica’s wreath. As his sister talked on-and-on, Patrick finished his dinner, placed his bowl in the sink, and headed up to his room. He took a seat on the foot of his bed.

_Did she really say that?_

Jackie’s comment comparing Patrick’s actions to that of a frenzied boyfriend had hit him surprisingly hard for a light-hearted tease. Perhaps it was because of Patrick’s general confusion over the jealous-boyfriend stereotype. Back in high school when he had his first, and only, girlfriend, he didn’t remember feeling jealous about her affections toward others. Then again, he didn’t remember feeling much at all toward her… which was strange when compared to his friends, who had either fallen head-over-heels for their girlfriends or spent their days wishing they had one.  Pat couldn’t even remember wanting a romantic relationship that bad compared to his peers; he had just gotten into one on the basis of “Why not?”

_But I don’t care about Jonny that much, right?_

Patrick sat still. He had finally put two and two together. And everything started to make a bit more sense.

He went to sleep with two things at the front of his mind: what he just learned about himself and what he sincerely hoped wasn’t true.

#

Jonathan came into the shop at 8:22 AM the next morning. Patrick was waiting behind the counter per usual, ready to prove to himself that his feelings were false.

“Good morning, Jonny,” Patrick said.

“Ah, morning, Pat. How have you been?”

“Doing well. You in for your canes per usual?”

“Of course.” Jonathan smiled as he stepped over to the basket of candy canes. “Must have made a new batch yesterday, eh?”

“We sure did.”

“I can see why these are a big hit.” Jonny looked toward Patrick. “Definitely made with love.” He walked up to the counter. Pat had already punched in the order and took the twenty dollar bill Jonathan handed over.

“Sorry, I ran out of tens, I guess.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Patrick grabbed the correct change and handed it to Jonathan. “Have a good day, yeah?”

“You as well.” Jonny gave a smile as he walked toward the door. “See you soon, Pat.”

Patrick stood still and stared aimlessly in front of him, not focused on any particular point.

_I didn’t smile when he walked in. I didn’t like it when he called me my nickname. I didn’t feel my heart beat faster when he told me my canes are “made with love.” I didn’t like it when our hands barely brushed when I gave him change. I didn’t watch every movement he made when he left._

There was a pause. _I’m such a liar._

  



	3. Chapter 3

“I can’t believe Christmas is only five nights away,” Jackie said as she bent a stick of candy and set it aside to dry with the rest of the candy canes that she and her brother were making.

“I can’t believe you convinced me coming in at five AM was a good idea.” Patrick yawned as he handed his sister another of piece of candy.

“Because it’s not like you made us come in at four thirty the day before Christmas Eve last year.” Jackie rolled her eyes. “But sure, blame it on me.”

“Oh you know I’m just giving you shit.”

“Well you might want to lay off on that,” Jackie said in a voice that was squeaky to the point of unpleasantness, “or you’re gonna get a big lump o’ coal from Santa this year.”  The siblings laughed.

“But that’s exactly how half the moms sound in here right now,” Pat said. After all, their customers were largely families with kids, and there was no better way to get a toddler to behave during Christmas time than to threaten them with Santa’s naughty list.

“I remember when our mom sounded like that,” Jackie said. “Until I was nine and, you know, Christmas was ruined forever.”

“Oh come on,” Patrick said, “I tried so damn hard to keep you believing.” He still remembered trying to console nine year-old Jackie after one of Erica’s friends had let it slip that Santa Claus wasn’t real. “I kept Erica from telling you and Jess, and I kept Jess from telling you. It was the family mission to not let you know the truth.”

“But since you couldn’t save me, you have to play savior for all the little kids that come in, right?”

“Of course.” Between his personal reasoning and general business etiquette, Patrick was very stiff on making sure the shop’s younger customers weren’t told the truth about Santa. There had been a few occasions over the years when a teenager or adult would make some snide remark that a little kid overheard, and every time, Patrick was the one who would walk out to the front of the store and give a speech or two that affirmed Santa’s existence. He may have also shot some nasty glares toward those who nearly took away the Christmas magic from those kids, but no one needed to know about that.

Patrick continued to give rolled pieces of candy to Jackie to shape into canes, and as he did so, he thought back to what she had initially said. It was five days until Christmas, which meant it couldn’t be any more than two weeks before the shop closed until January, per tradition. Pat hadn’t quite realized how fast time had flown by, which could have been caused by the general happenings of life or by his mind’s wanderings over the past week or so, which had only intensified over the past day.

 _It’s only been nine days since I met him,_ Pat thought. It felt a bit longer than that, but it had been barely over a week since he met Jonny. Yet, despite that, Patrick was already in love — even if he was reluctant to admit it.

“You okay, Pat?”

Pat glanced at his sister. “Yeah, I’m good.” He realized he had slowed in his rolling of the candy. He returned to his regular rhythm and pushed his thoughts about Jonathan to the back of his mind. At the moment, he had work today. He could get lost in thought in an hour, when Jonny was actually going to come in.

#

Patrick took a deep breath in an attempt to calm his heart rate after he had spotted Jonathan walking up to the shop. He wasn’t exactly used to this “in love and consciously aware of it” thing yet.

“Hey, welcome back,” Pat said as the door swung open.

“Hey, good morning.” Jonathan stepped into the warm store, sheltering himself from the flurry of snow outside. “How are you?”

“Doing good.” If Patrick wasn’t already doing well, he certainly was now that he was staring at Jonny’s face. Pat was finally getting around to realizing how much he fancied the man. Sure, he had seen his sharp jawline and deep brown eyes many, many times, but he hadn’t truly appreciated them. Pat’s mind started running off on a tangent, and a flurry of images ran through his head on what it might be like to be just a little bit closer to Jonny, trying to answer the plethora of what-ifs that cropped up with every second. He wondered about leaning over the counter, reaching out toward Jonny and —

Patrick snapped his eyes shut. _Not now, I’m working._ He opened his eyes back up. To Pat’s relief, Jonathan was picking out a pack of candy canes, not staring at Patrick’s odd behavior.

“So, uh.” Pat paused. “How did the camera thing go?”

“Oh,” Jonny said, turning toward Patrick, “it went well. They told me it was the battery and I was able to get a new one right then and there.” He started to smile. “The camera is working damn perfect now.”

“That’s great.” Patrick smiled, catching a bit of the joy that he felt radiating from Jonny.

“Thank so much for letting me know about them, Pat.”

“Hey, you’re welcome, man.” Patrick had a feeling his grin was covering at least half his face. He hoped Jonny wouldn’t think something was off. “So, anyway, where are you heading today?”

Jonathan looked at the windows behind him and then back at Patrick. “In that snowstorm? I can handle snowing, alright, but it’s rough out there today.”

“Oh trust me, I know. I walked here at five this morning.”

“You what?”

“I walked here at five.”

Jonathan’s jaw fell open. “Oh my god, I thought you’d drive here?”

“How many cars have you seen here, Jonny?” Patrick asked, tilting his head to the side.

Jonathan was silent for a moment. “Well, okay, I guess not many.”

“People ‘round here don’t drive too much.”

There was silence between the two until Patrick broke it with, “Anyway, just the canes today?”

Jonny nodded. Patrick rung the order up and Jonathan handed the two dollars and four coins over. Pat quickly took the money — too quickly, in fact, as the quarter tumbled out of his hand and onto the counter. He reached his hand out to grab the loose coin… only for Jonathan to have the same thought, leaving both of their hands on the coin, touching one another.

Patrick was frozen still for a moment. He was certain his heart just skipped a beat or two.

“Oh, uh, sorry about that.” Pat picked up the coin and placed it in the register, looking away from Jonathan.

“No problem,” said Jonny. When Patrick looked back at him, there didn’t appear to be any negative changes in his expression. Then again, there weren’t any positive ones, either.

“Well, I hope you have a good day doing whatever you end up deciding.”

“Thanks, Pat, and I hope business goes well for you.”

“Thanks man.” Patrick was back to smiling once more.

Jonathan walked out of the shop, clutching his pack of candy canes. “Take care,” he called as the door closed behind him. Patrick watched as the man disappeared down the snowy street. Maybe he cared about those ill-fitting pants more than he initially thought.

Pat headed to the back of the store, where Jackie worked on labeling the packages of freshly made candy canes that were spread across the secondary cooling table.

“Oh, hey Pat.” Jackie turned to her brother and looked away, only to turn her head back around and stare at him.

“What’s on my face?” Pat had dealt with Jackie’s stare-downs many times to know that a piece of dirt or candy was probably the culprit.

“Nothing, it’s just that you look red.”

“I… what?” Pat raised his eyebrows.

“Are you cold or something?”

“Uh, not… a little bit, yeah.” Patrick knew well that he was probably blushing, but he wasn’t going to let his sister know so she could interrogate him about it. “I mean it’s what, twenty degrees today?”

“Fair enough.” Jackie turned back to her work. Patrick sighed in relief. Today was not the day his youngest sister was finding about his sudden feelings for their customer. He supposed there would eventually be a day she’d find out, especially if….

 _Wait,_ Patrick thought, _am I going to tell him?_

The answer Patrick wanted to throw himself behind was yes, but there was apprehension when he thought of telling Jonathan his feelings — apprehension that was highly reasonable. After all, Jonathan was simply a customer. Were employees even supposed to talk about such personal matters to customers? Pat’s gut said no.

He took a breath. Pat decided it was best to give it another day and see how things would play out during Jonny’s next visit. And Patrick hoped it would go well.

#

_Knock, knock, knock._

Patrick opened his eyes. He was still in bed, curled up underneath his quilted comforter. The clock on the nightstand had its hour hand at five and its minute hand at forty-seven. Pat looked back at the door.

“Come in,” he said.

The door slowly creaked open, and Pat saw a person’s silhouette backlit by the hallway lights. The person stood still for a moment, then dashed into Patrick’s room and nearly somersaulted onto his bed.

“It’s four days until Christmas, Pat! Four days!” Jackie shook her brother by his shoulders and pulled him upright.

“Holy shit Jackie,” Patrick said, “calm down.” He pushed his sister back.

“I can’t calm down, it’s nearly Christmas and you’re not even excited.” Jackie pointed at her brother.

“I am too excited.” Patrick crossed his arms.

“Then show it.”

Patrick gave Jackie another push and nearly sent her flying off the bed as he got up and ran to his closet. He reached toward the back and as soon as he felt velvet, he clutched that item in his hands. Then, he stepped out of the tiny closet, slipped on the red elf-style hat he held, and turned back to Jackie.

“Am I festive now?” Pat did a quick, poorly-executed jig. Jackie fell back onto the bed laughing.

“I,” she took a breath to calm her laughter, “dare you to wear that to work.”

“Are you nuts? The glitter on this thing is a safety hazard.”

Jackie laughed some more. “Fine, then how about I dare you to wear that every time you’re up front today?”

Patrick thought for a moment. “Only if you mop the floor tonight.”

“Really, Pat?”

“Take it or leave it.”

Jackie sighed. “Fine, deal.”

#

Patrick stood behind the front counter when Jonathan walked in , just a few minutes after eight.

“Good morn—” Jonny halted his greeting and stared at Patrick.

“Dare from my sister,” Patrick said, knowing exactly why he was being stared at.

Jonny chuckled. “It looks great on you.”

Patrick smiled, feeling warmth from the compliment. “Thank you.”

As Jonathan went to grab his pack of candy canes, Patrick thought about what to say next. It was the first time he feared he’d say something wrong.

“So,” Pat said, “how’s the camera now that you’ve got it all fixed up? Get any good shots yet?”

“Yeah, I got this beautiful one of the town hall. You’ve seen how they decorated it, right?”

“Not this year. Did they wrap the entire place in lights again?”

“They’ve got lights everywhere.” Jonny motioned outward with his hands. “There’s red along the edges of the building, green in the windows, white twinkling ones around the trees. They’ve even got a wreath in every window. It’s gorgeous.”

Patrick nodded and smiled. “I’m gonna go ahead and say you took a bunch of photos there?”

Jonny nodded as Patrick punched the pack of canes into the register. When Pat turned back to Jonny, the man was looking around the store.

“You don’t mind if I take some pictures of this place, do you?”

“Not at all,” Patrick replied.

“Great, I’ll bring the camera with me when I swing by tomorrow.”

“Sounds great.” Pat gave a thumbs-up. “Anyway, you picking up anything else besides the canes?”

“Actually….” Jonathan stepped over to the ribbon candy basket. He started going through the packages. “Oh, I guess you guys ran out of those strawberry ones, eh?”

“Yeah, I think you bought the last pack.”

Jonny pulled himself away from the basket. “That makes sense. Good thing I didn’t eat them all yet.” He walked back to the counter and pulled some cash out from his coat pockets. Like clockwork, Patrick took the money, put it in the register, and handed Jonathan the pack of canes on the counter.

“So, I guess I’ll see you and your big ol’ camera tomorrow?” asked Pat, voicing the second part of his question with an exaggerated, distorted voice.

Jonny laughed. “Yeah, you’re gonna see me and my big ol’ camera,” he replied, mimicking Patrick’s voice. Pat nearly fell into the counter laughing. He knew what Jonathan said wasn’t that funny, but he was falling horribly in love, after all. That could make even the most dead, poorly timed joke funny.

“Well, you have a good day, yeah?” Patrick stood back up straight and looked Jonny in the eye.

“You do the same.” Jonathan gave a quick smile, then turned around and walked out of the door. Patrick sighed as the door clicked shut as Jonny left his line of sight. He took a breath and walked to the back of the store.

“So,” he said as he approached his sister, “I think we’re in order for some more ribbon candies.”

“I thought you said that the current count was still good?” Jackie didn’t look up from the truck order sheet she was looking over.

“Yeah, but there’s absolutely no strawberry.”

“Oh, it finally sold out?” Jackie looked up. “It only took, what, two months?”

“Oh but Jackie, we just had someone disappointed that there were no more packs of them.”

“We can’t make a single batch of ribbon candy for one customer. Especially not strawberry ones.”

Patrick frowned. Even if he’d like to make another batch of strawberry ribbon candies, for both his happiness and Jonny’s, Jackie had a point. They took forever to sell, and they only had about two weeks to get all the stock in the store sold, after all.

“If you’re gonna mope around about it, then how about we make strawberry drops instead? Since you said we were low on drops, anyway.”

“Hell yeah.” Pat replied. “You think tomorrow morning will work?”

Jackie nodded. “Anyway, didn’t you say you were taking that off back here?” She pointed at Pat’s head.

“Oh, yeah.” Patrick pulled the glittery elf hat from off his head, a bit stunned he had forgotten to when he left the front counter. “I’m gonna go put this back up there.”

Jackie gave her brother a thumbs-up as he walked away.

#

Patrick was a bit groggy when he left his room that Tuesday morning, rubbing his eyes while walking downstairs. He usually started getting dressed as soon as he rolled out of bed, but he knew as soon as he woke that morning that he was need of a cup of coffee. He made his way to the kitchen, wanting to get caffeine into his body as soon as possible.

“Well, we’re certainly going to miss you.”

Pat looked in front of him. Jackie was leaning against the counter, holding onto the home phone. She stared down at the edge of the sink, where she tapped the fingers of her right hand.

“You and Don have fun over there in Michigan, okay?” She nodded her head. “Love you, too, Jess.” She hung up the phone, placing it back into its holder.

“Oh, morning, Pat,” Jackie said as she turned around. “Didn’t see you there.” Her brother didn’t reply. Jackie sighed.

“So, Jessica’s not coming home this year.”

“That sucks,” said Patrick.

“She’s going to stay with her boyfriend’s family in Detroit, instead.” There was silence for a moment after Jackie spoke.

“I mean, it’s her life and all, but….” Patrick glanced away from his sister. “That f’n sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.”

“So, it’s just us, Mom, and Dad this Christmas.”

Jackie nodded. “But we’re gonna make it great.”

“Shit, do we have any other choice?” Patrick walked to the counter and reached up to the cabinet on the wall.

“Coffee day?”

Pat nodded as he grabbed out the container of black coffee grounds. If he didn’t need coffee before, he sure did now.

#

Patrick turned the handle of the drop candy machine, feeding a piece of red candy through it. The two wheels of the machine left deep, sharp indents in the candy, creating the shapes of various little trinkets. Pat could still smell the strawberry flavoring radiating from the candy. The flavoring was why he was so happy to make the drop candies that morning, and why he was so sad that he had indented the final piece of candy. He couldn’t do anything else with the candy until it cooled completely, so he went ahead and took the wheels out of the machine and placed them in the metal sink that held all of the shop’s other dishes.

As he turned around from the sink, Patrick heard a clicking sound in the distance. After a moment, he heard it again. He recognized the sound as a camera shutter and immediately walked up front.

Jonathan held a black camera up to his left eye; the camera’s strap rested around his neck. He pressed the shutter button, which made a clicking noise and captured a photograph of the baskets that housed the shop’s stock of candy canes. He then turned toward the counter.

“Oh, morning, Pat,” he said, lowering his camera but not letting go of it. “Hope you didn’t mind me going ahead and taking a few pictures.”

“Not at all,” Patrick replied. And before he could realize what happened, he was blinded by a quick flash of light.

“Had to get one of the shopkeeper.” Jonny smiled as he lowered the camera. Pat just laughed. Jonathan then continued to walk around the store taking pictures of the various candies and Christmas decorations. Patrick felt pretty confident that he could probably spit out his confession that very day, if he so felt like it. He didn’t blurt it out yet, though; he wanted to wait until the end of Jonny’s visit, just in case things went sour. And in all fairness, there was a high potential that things could go sour. But Patrick wasn’t so fearful of that threat anymore.

Jonny came back over to the counter with a pack of candy canes. Pat had already rung them into the register.

“You grabbing anything else besides the canes?” Patrick asked.

“Y’know, I didn’t do this yesterday, but….” Jonathan stepped back and grabbed a bag of drop candies. “I haven’t seen nectar candy anywhere else, and it’s too good to not have around.”

Patrick smiled as he punched the price for the drop candies into the register, double-checking that the price he entered was indeed for the sugar-free variety. “So much for that diet you had, huh?”

“Well, I’m still on it.”

Patrick raised his eyebrows as he looked at Jonny.

“I mean, I don’t eat each pack the day I buy it. Most of them are unopened. I’m saving them since I can’t get them back home.”

And that’s when Patrick pulled his head out of the clouds and dropped any and all plans of his confession, because he remembered something that would make a relationship between him and Jonny impossible: Jonny lived in Canada.

Of course, Pat knew all along Jonathan was a tourist, but the fact didn’t fully register when he was falling in love. And it was foolish of him not to remember that, because it was clear to see. Jonny bought the candy canes daily because he couldn’t buy them back home; it was the only reasonable explanation for a fit man on a diet to spend over one hundred dollars on candy in a couple of weeks. He was taking the photos of the shop because it would be a long time before he’d see it again — or maybe because he’d never see it again at all. Patrick felt like a fool for becoming so infatuated with someone he probably had no shot with.

“Is everything okay?”

Patrick snapped his head back up. Jonny was staring at him.

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s good.” He finished ringing the order up. “Total’s twenty seventeen.”

Jonathan handed over the $20.17 exact, which Patrick placed into register. Jonny then grabbed his packs of candy off the counter.

“You have a good day, Pat.”

“You too.” Patrick gave a half-hearted smiled as Jonathan left the store. He sighed and started to lose himself in thought once more.

Even if Jonathan did like him back, their relationship would have to be long-distance. There would be little reason for Jonny to stay in New York forever, and Patrick… Patrick could never leave the shop. It was his livelihood that had been a part of his life since childhood. He was next in line for ownership, after all. The mere thought of leaving it all behind made him sick to his stomach. He wished he could just throw his feelings for Jonathan out the window; if only it could be that simple.

Patrick walked to the back. The sheets of candy were hardened and Jackie was working on separating them. He slipped on his gloves and picked one of the sheets up. With a little more force than he knew he was supposed to use, he dropped the sheet, breaking it apart into individual pieces of candy. The candy panged against the metal table as it fell down, like bouncing raindrops.

“You okay?” Jackie asked, turning to her brother.

Patrick grabbed another sheet and dropped it.

“Alright, I see.” Jackie looked away and started to sort through the tiny drops, weeding out any broken or disfigured pieces. Patrick didn’t pay much attention to her as he dropped the final sheet, leaving the table covered in a sea of drop candies. He then joined in on the quality-control check and tried his best to focus on his work and not the thoughts flying one hundred miles a minute through his brain. As he sifted through the pieces, he felt a nudge on his left arm.

“Here,” Jackie said, holding the broken bits of a drop in her hand.

“Thanks.” Patrick took the pieces and popped them in his mouth. The taste of sweet strawberry made him a bit happier — at least, enough that he could focus on sorting through the candy.

#

“So, it starts tomorrow.” Jackie looked at her brother from across the dining table. “The busiest two days of the year.”

Patrick nodded as he swallowed the sip of water he had taken. Christmas Eve was a day away.

“What do we absolutely have to make?”

Pat glanced down at the inventory sheet on the table. “Top priority is canes.”

Jackie clicked her pen and jotted her brother’s reply down on the notepad she had in front of her. “Next?”

“Ribbon candies are a bit lower than I’d like so if we could get those done at some point, that’d be good.”

“So it’s really just the canes this year?”

Pat nodded.

“How much do we need to make of them, then?”

“Medium batch.”

“And there won’t be overstock?”

Patrick thought for a moment. The shop had to close no later than December 31st for the half-month of maintenance and rest it goes through each January, so overstock was something that they tried to avoid having. But after eleven years of working at the shop, Patrick knew the customers’ buying habits pretty well.

“They’ll be long gone within a week,” he said.

Jackie nodded and wrote another note on the pad. “What time should we get in to make them?”

“Normal will be fine.”

“Awesome.” Jackie smiled. “Hopefully the crowds won’t hit us early."

“I hope so too.” Pat sighed. The day before Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve itself were brutal in terms of the business the store got. During the span of those two days, it was if all three hundred and something people living in the town came into the shop. Both Patrick and Jackie were used to it, but that didn’t subtract from how many customers they’d get within forty-eight hours.

“Anyway, I’m going to head to bed.” Jackie got up from her seat at the table.

“Yeah, I’m gonna have to do the same.” Patrick pushed his chair in as he stood up. His sister went ahead and ripped off her page from the notepad and placed it with the inventory sheet that they’d return to the shop the following day. Pat went upstairs, dragging his hand along the wooden rail on the wall.

After he had changed into his pajamas, brushed his teeth, and wished his parents goodnight, Patrick went into his room and shut the door. The only light in the room was the dim glow of the lamp sitting on Pat’s nightstand. He sighed as he walked to his bed. But instead of getting under the covers, he just sat on the edge, aimlessly staring into the full-body mirror on the wall across from him. He closed his eyes.

Pat wanted to yell every swear word he had ever learned. He wanted to shout each and every one in the name of frustration. But he knew that would disturb the rest of the household, especially his parents, who never came around to like his usage of more colorful language. So instead he just grunted and threw his head in his hands.

He remembered the moment he was told he would be the future owner of the shop. It was a crisp November day, right on the cusp of Pat’s eighth birthday. He had been walking with his father to the candy shop from elementary school.

“Hey, Dad?” Patrick had asked, turning toward his father.

“What is it, junior?”

“Why do you always make me go with you to the shop?”

“Does it bother you?” Mr. Kane tilted his head to the side.

Patrick wasn’t bothered by going to the shop. He loved the bright colors of the walls and the candy his dad would give him when he learned something new. What bothered him was that it was all he ever did after school. All of his friends spent their afternoons and evenings going to the park, the skating rink, or to each others’ houses. Pat… well, for the past year, everyday after school, he went to the shop. At close, he’d go home, eat dinner with his sisters, do his homework, and go to bed.

“Why can’t I have fun like my friends?”

Mr. Kane stopped walking and looked down at his son, who followed his father’s lead and came to a halt, too.

“Patrick,” Mr. Kane started, “do you remember me telling you about how great-grandpa owned the shop?”

Pat nodded, a bit confused.

“And how grandpa owned the shop?”

Pat nodded again.

“And how grandpa gave it to me?”

“Why are you asking me this?” Patrick frowned.

“Because one day,” said the father, kneeling down to be level with his son, “you’re gonna own that store.” He pulled the shop’s keys out from his pocket and gave them a jangle. “These are gonna be yours, not mine.”

Patrick’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Really.” Mr. Kane smiled. “That’s why I’m always bringing you with me, ‘cause there’s a lot to learn. And I promise that one day, it’ll be worth it.”

“You promise?”

“Promise.”

There was a pause.

“Okay, let’s go!” Patrick had started running down the sidewalk. His father had followed behind until they had reached the shop.

Patrick sighed as the memory crossed his mind. He had already poured so much of his life into the shop. All he wanted was for the day to come where the keys that were hanging by the door would be officially his, and the shop would be his to take care of, all alone. And he had a feeling that feeling that day was coming fast.

Even if he wouldn’t admit it himself, Mr. Kane was getting old. He already had to have surgery for a hernia that was a direct result of him working nonstop for years. Patrick knew one day his father was going to have to retire, and that was coming sooner rather than later.

Patrick could never leave the shop. He didn’t want to leave. Not only that, but his family couldn’t afford him to leave. Erica and Jessica already made it clear they weren’t going to be the shop’s successors from their moves to the Midwest and their independent careers. As for Jackie, Pat couldn’t imagine a future where she controlled the shop alone. Patrick couldn’t leave the shop… which meant he couldn’t have Jonny.

Patrick wanted to tear his hair out. He resented the fact that he had fallen in love so quickly and foolishly. He wanted to give himself a big slap across the face, but he held his hands still instead, deciding he’d rather not have to explain whatever mark would be left on his cheek to his family in the morning.

He stared at the floor as his blinks got progressively longer. Pat was tired and his body was making sure he knew it. And eventually, he fell into the pillows of his still made bed and passed out.

#

Patrick woke up at six o’clock to the beeping of his alarm. The first thing he saw was a couple of his pillows on the floor. Then he realized he never got under the covers the night before, or even turned off his lamp. He got up, flipped on his overhead light, and then shut the lamp off. It took a couple of moments for him to realize it was December 23rd, but when he did, he immediately raced to get dressed.

It wasn’t long after Patrick got up that he met Jackie downstairs in the kitchen, where they ate some spare oranges and instant oatmeal for breakfast. Neither of them thought it was that fulfilling of a meal, but at least it was something. As soon as they finished eating, it was out the door.

The siblings walked fast through the onslaught of snowflakes. About forty-five minutes before open, they walked in.

“How bad do you think it’ll be this year?” Jackie asked as she tied on her apron.

“Probably worse than the last.”

“Do you think it’ll be better than tomorrow?”

Pat scrunched up his face for a second. “They’re both their own kinds of hell.” He wiped off his apron. “Ready to get started on those canes?”

Jackie nodded, and the two were off to start making the batch.

#

It was just moments after open when someone came in. Patrick had just returned to the back room from flipping around the open sign. As soon as he heard the front counter bell, he sighed, turned away from where Jackie was working on cooling the freshly poured candy, and walked back up front.

A woman and two kids had entered the store. Pat gave them a smile as he approached the counter. One of the children handed the woman two packs of candy canes, while the other stared at the popcorn garland across the ceiling.

“Will that be all for today?” Pat asked as he punched the order in the register.

“That’ll be all, yes.”

“Your total will be twenty four sixty-four, ma’am.”

After being rung up, the lady and her kids left the store, letting an older man enter. As Patrick worked to ring up the man’s ribbon and image candies, he heard the door swing open. He glanced up, only to look away from the familiar face.

“Thank you for your purchase today, sir.” Patrick handed the old man his bag. “Have a great day and a merry Christmas.” As the man walked away, Pat stood up straight and took a breath as he got ready to greet the next person.

“Morning, Jonny.”

“Good morning, Pat. You guys been busy today, eh?”

“We always are before Christmas. You getting your usual?”

Jonathan nodded and grabbed his pack of candy canes. He stepped back to the counter and handed over a twenty dollar bill. Patrick tried his hardest to swallow down his rising affections as he pulled Jonny’s change from the register, but it didn’t help. He was still as hopelessly in love as before.

“Have a good day and a merry Christmas,” Patrick said as he dropped the change into Jonny’s hands, careful not to let them brush.

“You too,” Jonathan said, waving as he walked away.

During the time when Jonny was in the store, a small family had walked in. Patrick helped them. Then he helped another family. Then he helped an elderly couple. Then a young woman. Then another family. Then an older woman. Then a man with two kids. Then a family with three kids. Then another woman. Then another man. Then another family. Then another man. Then another family. And another family. And another family.

Patrick sighed as the door shut behind the last family he waited on, leaving the front of the shop empty. He then ran to the backroom.

Jackie was standing at the secondary table, rolling a chunk of opaque white candy into a log. The red candy was laid out and cut into piles of various sizes. It took less than a millisecond for Patrick to realize what his sister had done.

“What are you doing?!”

Jackie spun around toward Patrick. “I was working on the canes, you were up there forever.”

“Why didn’t you come and help me?”

“Why didn’t you ring the be—”

The front counter bell rang.

“You go get them, I’ll deal with this.” Pat walked up to the table. Jackie moved aside, giving her brother a quick glance before running up front.

Patrick stared down at the candy before him. He was brimming with frustration. Jackie had not only pulled the candy, a task Patrick preferred only he do, but also had started to create the log that would make the canes. And truthfully, there was absolutely no reason for him to be upset with Jackie, as she did nothing wrong in the process. In fact, her work was impeccable.

Pat sighed as he started arranging the candy. He set all of his focus on his work in an effort to ignore his anger. It worked well enough for him to not shout in such close proximity to the customers. He resorted to muttering strings of curses under his breath until Jackie returned.

“You ready to start rolling it out?” she asked, as if nothing had happened.

Patrick gave his sister a nod and started rolling the log thinner and thinner, until he was able to start cutting off small segments to slide down the table to Jackie. He didn’t make any other conversation with her as they did so, not even greeting her when she returned to the table after having to wait on customers. And that was the way they interacted for the rest of the day.

#

Just as Patrick predicted, Christmas Eve was no better of a day. It started off with a couple bringing in their four kids, two which ran circles around the store. Pat hoped they wouldn’t break anything as he ran up the three bags of candy and five packs of canes the parents bought. A part of him wanted to tell the kids to cut it out, but he held his tongue. It was Christmas Eve, after all.

After the family left, the next customer came in. It was Jonathan.

“Morning,” Patrick said. He wasn’t in much of a mood for talking, especially not while he was so frustrated with his feelings toward Jonathan. But Jonny didn’t know this, so he replied with some small talk, like usual.

“Merry Christmas Eve,” Jonny said, smiling. “Are you going to the parade tonight?”

Patrick shook his head. “I’ve got to stay here ‘til close.” He didn’t mention that even if he didn’t have work, the parade was no fun without all of his sisters around. “I’ll just watch the reruns tomorrow.”

“Ah, they record it?” Jonny paused. “I suppose that’d make sense. I’ll be going down to the town square tonight to watch it pass by.”

“Get there early if you want a good spot.” Even with all his frustrations, Pat’s advice was sincere.

“I’ll be leaving plenty early for it.” Jonathan stepped to the side and grabbed his pack of candy canes. “Fresh, eh?”

Patrick nodded. “Last batch of the year.” He felt his anger from the previous day come back as he was reminded about what had happened with the batch.

“I’m sure they’ll taste great.” Jonny walked back up to the counted and handed a bill to Patrick. “Sorry, I have a lot of leftover twenties I’m trying to use up.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Patrick had memorized Jonny’s change for when he paid with a twenty, so Pat had exchanged the note for the change in seconds. He dropped it from his hand into Jonathan’s.

“Thank you so much.” Jonny smiled. Patrick gave one back, despite how bad he was feeling.

“You’re welcome. Merry Christmas Eve.”

“Merry Christmas Eve to you, too.” Jonathan walked to the door. “Goodbye, Pat.”

After Jonny left, some woman walked in. Patrick helped her before heading to the backroom.

“Hey, Pat,” Jackie said, watching her brother as he walked by. He didn’t respond. “So, did your customer come in?” There was still no reply. “You know, Jonathan or whatever?” Patrick remained absolutely silent, only glancing toward his sister in response.

“Okay, Pat, this is getting ridiculous. What is going on?” Jackie crossed her arms as she was met with silence once more. “You’re going to have to excuse my language, but you’re being an asshole. You haven’t spoken to me all day.”

Patrick let out a sharp exhale, but he didn’t speak a single word.

“Is this because of yesterday?”

“You should have asked me to do it.”

“You didn’t ring the bell.”

“You should have known I didn’t want to be up there without needing the bell, Jackie.” He stared at his sister.

“The whole reason we have the bell is because I don’t always know, Pat. That’s why we got it.”

“You still should have known not to do my work.”

“Your work?” Jackie titled her head to the side. “Pat, we work this shop together. It’s our work.”

“You goddamn know I deal with the canes,” Patrick said, not bothering to bite back the bark in his voice.

“And I’m saying you know that I can do it, too.”

“It’s my damn work.”

Jackie took a breath. “I am sick and tired of you treating me like I can’t do anything, Patrick. I feel like I’m the only one in this family can’t do anything. Erica and Jessica have their own businesses. Me? I get to stay here and get told by you that I’m incapable of doing my job, even though I was trained by the same person, for the exact same amount of time. Do you understand how frustrating this is? Do you, Pat? Do you? Because I really don’t think you —”

“Shut the fuck up!” Patrick screamed.

Jackie jerked backward, her eyes wide and her mouth gaping open. Patrick regretted what he had said already.

“I—”

“Don’t,” Jackie said, walking away from her brother. Pat didn’t move from his spot next to the table. When Jackie returned in a few minutes with her arms crossed, she stared at Patrick.

“You’re damn lucky those customers up there didn’t hear that.”

#

Patrick and Jackie sat next to each other at the dining table. They were dressed in their Christmas outfits; Patrick wore his green velvet suit, and Jackie wore her red satin dress. Neither said anything to the other. Their parents brought food to the table from the counter and stovetop. The siblings began to fix their plates.

“Merry Christmas,” said Mrs. Kane as she scooted her seat toward the table.

The family started eating their plates full of chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and broccoli.

“Are you going to tell your mother how well she did on the food?” Mr. Kane looked at his children from across the table.

“It’s good,” Patrick replied, giving a thumbs-up with his left hand before shoving another forkful of potato in his mouth. Jackie nodded as she chewed some of the roasted chicken.

“You two have been awfully quiet tonight. How come?”

“Well…” Jackie started. Patrick, who was still chewing, looked over at her. She glanced at him and then looked back to their parents.

“These past two days have just been really draining,” she said. “Lots of customers, lots of work. I’m sure you know how it is.”

Mr. Kane chuckled. “Did your mom and I ever tell you about that one Christmas? What was it, eighty-five?”

“The one we had every single person in the town come in?” asked Mrs. Kane in response to her husband.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” The parents then started talking about all of the Decembers they had spent working the shop together, recounting each experience in excruciating detail through long, drawn out sentences that went around in circles. As the talking went on, Patrick gave a nod toward his sister as to say, “Thank you for not telling our parents about our fight.” She saw it and looked away.

#

It was just after eleven o’clock at night. Patrick’s parents had already sent him and his sister away to their rooms for the night. But instead of sleeping, Patrick sat on the foot of his bed with his arms crossed, thinking over what he knew he needed to do. After another moment, he walked to his door. He turned the knob and stepped out into the hall, careful not to let the door creak as he shut it behind him.

He walked out into the hallway toward Jackie’s room. As he knocked on her door, he realized it was cracked open. After he received no reply, he pushed the door open a bit and peeked inside.

No one was sleeping in the fully made bed or sitting at the messy vanity. Patrick sighed and stepped away. Slowly and quietly, he made his way downstairs. As he reached the first floor, he turned right and walked to the room with an open door. Patrick looked inside.

Jackie was sitting on one of the benches in the sunroom, looking out at the dark, snowy night. A warm light shined from the candle she held on a brass chamberstick. Patrick walked into the room and carefully approached his sister.

“I’m sorry.”

Jackie didn't look away from the windows. Patrick took a seat on the cushioned bench, right beside his sister.

“I… shouldn’t have said what I did. You’re right: you’re more than capable of running the shop.”

“Then why haven’t you been acting like it?” Jackie refused to turn toward her brother as she spoke. Patrick took a moment to reply.

“I’m not quite sure. But I’m going to try my damn hardest not to act like that again, because I’ve been real shitty to you.”

“Glad you realized that.” She still hadn’t looked away from the windows.

“I guess I blew up at you yesterday because I’ve been frustrated recently, but you still didn’t deserve any of it.” He paused. “The canes you made were perfect.”

Jackie turned to her brother. “Really?”

Pat nodded. “Really. And I promise I’m going to be back to normal tomorrow.”

“So no more acting funny?”

“No more acting funny.”

Jackie smiled. “Thank you for the apology.”

“You’re welcome.” Patrick smiled back. He then got off the bench. “You want me to walk with you back upstairs?"

“Sure.” Jackie stood up, and the siblings left the sunroom. They climbed the stairs to the second floor, and Patrick led Jackie to her door.

“Goodnight, Pat,” she said, walking into her room.

“Goodnight, Jackie.”

Jackie shut her door, and Patrick returned to his room, shutting the door behind him. Upon hearing it click into place, he took a deep breath. He knew there was only one thing left to do.

_I’m going to confess tomorrow._


	4. Chapter 4

Patrick and Jackie walked to the shop on Christmas morning. Snowflakes were no longer falling from the sky, but the sidewalks were covered in about a half-foot of snow.

“They’re gonna have to get someone out of here to shovel this,” Jackie said as she lifted her legs through the snow, almost as if she was marching.

“Yeah, and her name’s Jacqueline Kane.” Patrick laughed as his sister glared at him.

“I don’t know, I think Patrick Kane could do the job better.” Both of the siblings laughed at the remark.

“Look at you, firing back at me. Only took you nineteen years.”

Besides Pat and Jackie, the streets were empty. No one had appeared to leave their homes yet, and who could blame them? It was Christmas, after all. Eventually, the siblings made it to the shop. Patrick unlocked the door, and he and Jackie stepped inside.

“How busy do you think today’s gonna be?” Jackie said as she undid her scarf and hung it up.

“We’ll have the people coming in for the markdowns, but it shouldn’t be anything like the past two days.” Patrick slipped off his coat, placed it on a hook, and grabbed his apron from the adjacent hook.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

#

At eight o’clock, Patrick flipped the open sign around and then stood behind the front counter. He watched the street outside as ten after eight became fifteen, then twenty, then thirty. Jackie walked up to the counter from the back.

“What are you doing?”

“Just waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

“Anything.” Patrick sighed, leaned into the counter, and rested his head on his hands.

“I’ll wait with you.”

The shop finally got a customer around nine, but it wasn’t the one Patrick was hoping for. Jackie helped the woman and her kid and sent them on their way. As they walked out, a man and his two daughters came in. It appeared the shop was going to get busy.

As each new customer came and went, Patrick kept glancing toward the clock. It was nearly eleven; Jonny should have already been in. As Pat handed a bag full of candy to a middle-aged father, he remembered the previous day and how Jonny said “goodbye” instead of “see you soon.” And he remembered the train schedule on his father’s newspaper from three days ago that said there was a train departing for Canada at twelve o’clock on December 25th.

Pat glanced at the clock again. It was 11:13 AM. He counted how many customers were in the shop.  There were three. He looked at the sister, and then at the clock. He took a deep breath.

Patrick walked out from behind the counter and ran out the front door. He took a right and started sprinting down the sidewalk. The lights along the sides of buildings became a blur of red and green as Pat ran faster and faster. He wasn’t going to miss his shot at telling Jonny how he felt, not after all the frustration Pat had already endured from his emotions. And definitely not after he had sworn to himself that he’d confess the night before. As he dashed past the town hall, he looked up at the grand clock that hung above the doors.

 _I’m going to make it there in time,_ Pat thought as he saw it was half past eleven. He picked up his pace some more and veered to the sides of the few people that started to walk the sidewalks.

It was a quarter ‘til noon when Pat rushed into the train station. He immediately ran to the boarding area, ignoring the staff members greeting him.

“Jonny?” Patrick called. He looked among the crowd for the tall, dark-haired man, but his face was nowhere to be seen among the strangers. “Jonny?” Pat walked down the platform, frantically searching for anyone that looked like the man he was hoping to find.

“Jonathan!” Patrick looked for a reaction among the people. There was none to be seen. He kept darting back and forth across the platform, hoping to spot Jonny’s black coat or his obnoxious green mittens. He saw neither as he made his way to where people had begun boarding the train. Holding his hands with crossed fingers against his sides, he watched each person as they went from platform to train.

Twelve o’clock struck before Patrick knew it, and the train flew off into the day. He watched as it left and the soft sunlight that had been blocked by the vehicle started coming through the glass on the roof. He started to wonder if Jonny had boarded the train before he got there. Pat sighed and looked at the schedule sign hanging in the middle of the station. There was another train departing for Canada at two, this one to Toronto. Pat decided he’d stay and wait to see if Jonathan would show up.

Patrick sat on the worn-down wooden bench near where the two o’clock train would be boarded and watched people as they came in from outdoors. As the platform flooded with the influx of people, Pat got up and started calling for Jonathan.

“Jonny? Are you here, Jonathan?” Pat turned around and looked for the man, but he still didn’t see him. No one responded to the calls, either. Pat hoped that Jonathan wasn’t there, hearing his calls, and just ignoring them. But Patrick shook those thoughts away as he ran down the aisle, looking for any sign of Jonathan. But no signs were found, and at two, the train departed, leaving Patrick alone on the platform.

“Hey, excuse me?” Patrick had walked up to the receptionist’s desk. The receptionist looked up from the papers she was holding.

“How may I help you?” she replied, with a hint of fatigue in her voice.

“How many trains have you had departing to Canada today?”

“We had one at six AM, twelve PM, and two PM.”

Patrick’s expression turned blank as he looked to the floor. _Of course, he would’ve taken the train at six._

“We have one more at five going out to Quebec.”

“Oh,” Patrick said, looking back at the receptionist, “thank you.” He forced a smile and waved weakly as he walked away. He couldn’t remember if Jonathan was even from Quebec, or if he had ever said his hometown at all, but Pat decided he would stay for the next three hours. He took a seat at the bench by where the train would eventually depart and tried to keep his hope intact as he stared up at the ceiling, into the clouds that blanketed the sky.

#

Patrick stood as close to the loading area as possible. Unlike the other two trains, this one had extra gating placed up that prevented Pat from getting too close to where the people were boarding. Nevertheless, he watched each person who joined the boarding line and walking up the train.

“Jonny?” Patrick called toward a person wearing a black coat, but sighed when the target turned a bit and Pat realize the man must have been in his seventies. _I should have known,_ Patrick thought. _Jonny never wears his hood up, and that dude was too short, anyway._

As the minutes slipped away and five o’clock was only a two hundred-something seconds away, Patrick started shouting louder and more frequently than before.

“Jonny! Jonathan! Are you there?” He frantically looked around. A few people were staring at him.

“Does anyone know a Jonathan that’s here?” Patrick called. Most of the people continued to stare, except for one couple, who started turning to the people around them and asking if they’d seen a Jonathan around. Patrick could feel himself shaking as there was only sixty or so seconds left until the train departed. He felt crazy, searching for a man that he had only known for fifteen days so he could confess his love that probably wouldn’t be reciprocated. The couple that had started asking for Jonathan themselves were about to board, but turned back to Patrick first.

“We’re sorry,” the redheaded woman said to Pat, a frown on her face. “I hope you find him.”

“Thanks for your help.” Patrick watched as the couple boarded the train with the remainder of the line. He felt his breath become unsteady as the strain started to move. In a matter of seconds, the train left the station. He sighed, only the softest whisper coming out of his mouth when he muttered, “Fuck.”

#

The first thing Patrick noticed when he left the station was how bitterly cold it was. He was used to the cold, living in upstate New York for his whole life, but in his rush to leave the shop that morning, he chose to forgo grabbing his coat or hat. This left Pat wearing only his undergarments, jeans, sweater, and apron — none of which could properly shield him from the winter winds that blew in his face. He shivered and wrapped his arms around his torso for warmth.

He looked up from the snow covered concrete to see people taking down the Christmas lights on the town hall’s metal gates. Pat looked away before they could notice him, fearing that they’d recognize him. He didn’t want anyone to see his red, glassy eyes that couldn’t be blamed on the weather alone. It was a good thing that the sun had nearly set, leaving little light to see him with, anyway.

When he approached the shop, Pat’s head was down, and he didn’t bother to look up when he pulled open the door and walked to the counter. He slumped forward and pressed his face against the wood. He had shut his surroundings out completely, absolutely oblivious to the fact someone stood beside him.

“Patrick?”

Pat jerked upright and turned to his left. He instantly recognized the face looking back at him. It took him a moment to respond, staring at the person in front of him in disbelief.

“Jonathan?”

“Where have you been, Pat?”

“I… was looking for you.” That was the only thing Patrick could say before his emotions began to overflow. He threw his head into his arms. If there was one thing he didn’t want, it was crying in front of the man he had a ridiculous crush on.

“Pat, are you alright?” Jonny reached out toward Pat and pushed his arms away from his face, revealing the tears running down his cheeks. Jonathan grabbed him and pulled him into a light embrace. A part of Patrick wanted to push away, but he didn’t. Instead, he pressed himself into Jonny and buried his head into the other man’s shoulder. He was finally starting to warm up after being outside for nearly an hour.

“I thought you left for Canada already,” Patrick’s voice was slightly muffled from speaking into Jonathan’s jacket.

“I’m not driving home until Monday, Pat.”

Pat pulled his face from Jonny’s shoulder. “Wait, really?” Jonathan nodded, and Patrick wanted to kick himself for realizing that Jonny wouldn’t have taken the train in the first place. But he didn’t dwell on that much, still overjoyed Jonathan hadn’t left town yet. Pat held onto him for another moment before pushing away, sniffling and he stepped back and rubbed his eyes.

“Here.”

Patrick turned to his right. Jackie was leaning over the counter holding out a tissue.

“Thanks,” said Pat, taking the tissue and blowing his nose. He threw the dirty tissue across the room into the small trashcan in the corner. It landed in the can. Pat smiled and then turned back to Jonathan.

“I woke up really, really late today, so I didn’t make it in until right before noon,” Jonathan said, looking Patrick directly in the eye. “Jackie told me that you just ran out of here. I wanted to see you and tell you merry Christmas, so I decided to stay here until you made it back. I didn’t know you were out there looking for me.”

“I was.” There was a pause before either man spoke again.

“Well, merry Christmas, Pat.”

“Merry Christmas, Jonathan.” Patrick smiled, and then took a small breath. “You don’t mind staying a bit longer, do you?”

“No, not at all. What do you need?”

“I just want to talk to you little longer.” Pat paused. “Hey, Jackie, will you go double check how much flavoring we have in the back?”

“I checked it on Wednesday, Pat,” Jackie replied, wearing a confused look on her face.

“I know, but will you double-check? Pretty please?”

It took a moment, but Jackie realized Patrick was asking her to leave him and Jonathan alone. She then gave a thumbs-up and headed to the back. With his sister gone, Pat turned back to Jonny.

“What was it you wanted to talk about?”

“I….” Patrick felt his heart rate pick up and his palms start to turn clammy. But there was no backing out of this. He had made a promise to himself that he wasn’t willing to break, especially not after everything he went through that afternoon. It was time to finally spit it all out. He took a deep breath.

“Jonny, I… uh….” Pat had devolved into saying a series of filler sounds, not being able to get what he wanted to say out.

“You?” Jonathan motioned for Patrick to continue speaking.

“I’m….” He took another breath. “I’m in love with you.”

There was silence. Patrick fought the urge to look away from Jonny, even though that urge increase with every second Jonathan continued to wear his emotionless face. But then he started to smile. And it wasn’t one of his small, soft smiles. It was a full-on grin.

“I’m in love with you, too.”

Patrick’s eyes widened. “Are you joking?”

“Why would I joke about that?”

“I just didn’t think you’d feel the same way.” Pat glanced away.

“And I could say the same thing.”

There was a moment where neither man did anything. It ended quickly when Patrick flung himself into Jonathan. They grabbed onto each other, lightly rocking back and forth as they hugged. Eventually, they backed away from each other and resumed eye contact.

“I don’t really know how we’re going to make this work, with you living in Canada, and me having to work the shop, but we’ll figure it out, right?”

“Patrick," Jonathan said. "We haven’t even gone on a date, and you’re worrying about where we’ll live?”

Pat thought for a second. It was rather ridiculous he was so stuck on the details that didn’t even matter yet. It was so ridiculous that he started laughing at himself.

“Yeah, you’re right. That’s pretty stupid.” There was then another pause in the conversation.

“Do you want to talk about this more tomorrow when I come by?” Jonny asked.

“If that’s what you wanna do, yeah.”

“See you tomorrow then, I suppose?”

“As long as you got rung up and everything, yeah.”

“Your sister rang me up earlier, so I’ll be good to go.” Jonathan grabbed the pack of candy canes on the counter and walked to the door. Patrick stared at him, a bit sad that Jonny was leaving. Jonathan pushed the door partway open, but looked back at Pat before staring outside for a moment.

Jonathan let go of the door and walked to Patrick. He quickly swept his hand under Pat’s jaw, tilting his head up. Jonny leaned in and pressed his and Pat’s lips together for a few seconds. He then walked back to the door.

“Have a good rest of your evening, Pat.”

“Same to you, Jonny.” Patrick waved as Jonathan walked out the door, still processing what had just happened.

“Can I come back yet?”

“Yeah,” Patrick called, and within seconds Jackie was back behind the front counter.

“Oh my god,” she said, “you look like a tomato.” When Pat turned her way, she continued. “You’re so red!”

“I guess you need the explanation.”

Jackie shook her head. “No need. I overheard it all.” She paused. “Congratulations, by the way.”

Patrick smiled. “Thank you.”

#

It was the evening of Friday, December 24th. The sun had set behind a sky filled with clouds and snow. The shop had closed about an hour ago, and Patrick and Jackie were about to leave for home.

“Mom said dinner starts at eight thirty, right?” asked Pat as he buttoned up his coat.

“Yep, which means it’ll be nine.” Jackie wrapped her scarf around her neck. “If you’re worried about not having enough time to get ready, I’m sure you’ll have plenty.”

“Yeah, probably.” Pat chuckled as he and his sister walked out of the backroom to the shop’s front door. He grabbed the keys out of his pocket. “Ready to go?”

Jackie nodded. Pat turned the interior lock and pushed the door open. After Jackie made it out of the store and joined him in the snowy sidewalk, Patrick shut the door and locked it up. They then began the walk home.

The sky might have given no light, but the streets were far from dim that Christmas eve; the colorful lights that adorned windowsills, porches, and trees illuminated the small town. Some of the lights had even been strung into shapes resembling motifs of the season, such as snowmen and Santa Claus. Patrick admired the lights; perhaps he’d try to replicate them in the shop’s windows the following year.

After ten minutes of walking, the siblings reached their street.

“I’ll see you in about fifteen, okay?” Pat turned to his sister.

“Got it.” Jackie smiled. She waved toward her brother as he walked to the other side of the road. He watched as Jackie went to her and their parents’ house, squeezing between the two cars parked in the driveway, with license plates from Illinois and Michigan. Patrick then made his way to the house across from the one he grew up in. He ran up the front porch and reached into his pocket for the keys. He unlocked the door and then stepped inside.

The house smelt like pine, courtesy of the candles that had been burning in the dining room that morning. After taking in a few breaths of the scent, Pat began to take of his coat. As he slipped it off his shoulders, he heard footsteps behind him.

“Hey, welcome home.”

Patrick turned his head to face Jonathan, who was standing at the edge of the five stairs that led to the main level of their split-level house.

“Thanks,” Pat said, smiling. “Guess you went ahead and got ready, yeah?”

“I figured you’d like that.” Jonny glanced down at the suit he wore.

“It looks great on you.” Pat hung up his hat and walked up the stairs, glancing at the back of his boyfriend’s suit as he went past him. “I’m just gonna head to the back and change. Then we can get going.”

Jonny gave a single nod. “Take your time.”

Patrick walked to the back of the house to his and Jonathan’s room. He didn’t bother to shut the door before changing outfits. As he buttoned up his undershirt, he looked around at the room’s decoration. A pennant from Jonny’s college hung above the wooden shelf that held all of the framed pictures that both the men owned. A few other trinkets were displayed there, too, like a trophy from Jonny’s youth hockey team and a few of Patrick’s New York City souvenirs. After securing his bowtie in place, Patrick left the room.

“So?” Patrick stopped in front of Jonathan and held his hands out. “How do I look?”

“You look great, honey.” Jonny walked up to Patrick. He ran his hand over the shoulder of Pat’s suit and then through his hair. Patrick took the opportunity to give Jonny a quick kiss on the cheek.

“So, you ready to go?”

“As long as you’ve got everything,” answered Jonny. Patrick left the kitchen to the landing area by the front door. Jonathan followed.

“Are you grabbing your jacket?” Jonny motioned to the coat rack.

“It’s just across the street, I’ll be fine. You grabbing yours?”

Jonathan shook his head. “You got the keys?”

“Yep.” Patrick patted his right leg, causing the keys inside his pocket to jangle. There was then a short moment of silence.

“So,” Pat said, “Christmas Even dinner. You ready?”

“I’m ready.” Jonathan nodded.

Patrick smiled. “Let’s do this.”

 

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thank you to anyone who read this fic :D. I appreciate it bunches and bunches, especially since this was my first fic ever. There's definitely some rough patches still (*cough*the pacing*cough*), but I'm still ecstatic I was able to complete it by the deadline I set for myself. Maybe one day I'll go back and create an updated version. We'll just have to see.
> 
> Merry Christmas once again :).


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